I didn't bother trying with component, bought it specifically for the HDMI and upscaling. Picture was seriously dissapointing on PJ though.
Just to clarify that the player does have a simple brightness and edge enhancement setting. However via HDMI there was an overall underlying gamma level that was irritating. Via the PJ it was clearly evident and affected the blacks. On plasma it was fine and liveable. If you can get into the finer adjustments on the player I think you could get a very good picture out of it but alas they have skimped on the tweakable features on this machine.
Sent it back for now, the 868 is firmly the better HDMI buy, no question.
Whilst a bit disappointed with the 350, it was up against an 868AVi, SD9500 & SD900. So although disappointed on how the HDMI fared against top quality, which I appreciate maybe an unfair comparison, for £80 it is a good machine nevertheless. Whilst clear and sharp, the HDMI picture didn't reach the magical 3-Dimensionality that others can. Although if you want tweakability I reckon the Panny S97 or the Oppo's maybe better machines to go for if you can stretch your budget a bit.
Anyway for £80 it's worth trying to see if it floats your boat.